MegaCrop Cloudy reservoir and excess residue.

[Mushinronsha]

Hello my growing friends. Im pretty tired and have been just dealing with this since I started but it has been bothering me enough that I wanted to ask because maybe Im doing something wrong. But when I mix up my MC in my reservoir for my ebb and flow. The water looks like a clean tea almost. However the very next day the water will be cloudy and the PPMs shoot up a bit. After a few days of running my aquarium filter it will clear the water back up to a tea color, but my filters catch all this sludge almost. Also leaves a nice redish film on everything . I completely refresh my tank every 7 days and was just wondering is this normal? Does anyone have any better solution for maybe cutting back on it? Let me know and happy growing!

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

I’d love to know. I’ve had thoughts for a few weeks it might be a red bacteria ? I use DWC and around the lids I use I get a small are where enough light hits the damp reservoir lip some bacteria grows. Now I’ve see other colors their. Without enough good bacteria in one plant I had a bright green lip where that bacteria saw light and had a chance to grow. Most times when running Hydroguard I get a brownish lip which I assumed was good bacteria. This current run I have a bright red purple lip. I’ve been running the southern AG fungicide as my bennies with MC this run. I wonder if the color is somehow due to a strain of bacteria.

Or maybe just a residual trace element forming somehow through evaporation of the nutrient mixture.

Or......

FB

 

[Dichoti]

I had it happen in my autopots. I said screw it and will only use it for my top fed plants. It's good stuff, So I won't quit using it until I run out.

 

[idiopathic neuropathy]

Hello my growing friends. Im pretty tired and have been just dealing with this since I started but it has been bothering me enough that I wanted to ask because maybe Im doing something wrong. But when I mix up my MC in my reservoir for my ebb and flow. The water looks like a clean tea almost. However the very next day the water will be cloudy and the PPMs shoot up a bit. After a few days of running my aquarium filter it will clear the water back up to a tea color, but my filters catch all this sludge almost. Also leaves a nice redish film on everything . I completely refresh my tank every 7 days and was just wondering is this normal? Does anyone have any better solution for maybe cutting back on it? Let me know and happy growing!

Same symptoms happened to me and I question if ppms are going up that the plants are receiving more water and less nutes which would be detrimental in a coco grow. I will be going back to GH flora nutes in my next grow, which gave me better yield.

 

[Mushinronsha]

Same symptoms happened to me and I question if ppms are going up that the plants are receiving more water and less nutes which would be detrimental in a coco grow. I will be going back to GH flora nutes in my next grow, which gave me better yield.

Well its good to know Im not the only one.... lol

Its really odd, so yesterday when I refreshed my tank. I started at 760ppm all in. Today its at 893. But than tommorrow it will be back down to around 760 and level its self off for the rest of the week and be fine. It also has never had a negative impact on my plants, its just more maintenance that has to be done. And since Im looking at upgrading my system its going to be harder than ever to clean it out every week.

So I guess Im wondering :

1. What is it and whats causing it?
2. Is it harmful?
3. What are others doing or not doing to minimize / get rid of it?

@Greenleaf Nutrients Can you all maybe share your experience on if this is normal in hydroponic set ups that you have seen or just some relative feed back on it?

 

[Mushinronsha]

I’d love to know. I’ve had thoughts for a few weeks it might be a red bacteria ? I use DWC and around the lids I use I get a small are where enough light hits the damp reservoir lip some bacteria grows. Now I’ve see other colors their. Without enough good bacteria in one plant I had a bright green lip where that bacteria saw light and had a chance to grow. Most times when running Hydroguard I get a brownish lip which I assumed was good bacteria. This current run I have a bright red purple lip. I’ve been running the southern AG fungicide as my bennies with MC this run. I wonder if the color is somehow due to a strain of bacteria.

Or maybe just a residual trace element forming somehow through evaporation of the nutrient mixture.

Or......

FB

Thank you for your response. Im not sure if we are seeing the same things as Ive never seen any other colors or had it isolated to just an area where the light hits. I am curious about hydroguard and was wondering if it would help. I was also thinking it could be a bacteria as well. I was also wondering since I use tap water. If it could be something in the MC that binds to the particles in my water and leaves residue behind?

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

In ebb and flow I thought all your nutrient solution gets exposed to light? I vote that it is s bacteria.

I run dirty water and it becomes impossible to monitor ppm of solution so I don’t. Current solution in my buckets is over 6.0 EC. Nutrients, salts and bacteria. Ppm most likely increases as the bacteria colony blooms and then you filter it out creating sludge.

We see “red tide” but not actually along the coasts when weather gets warm here. My guess would be that it is from the trace elements or kelp derivative that they add to the mix in MC. You say you e never seen any other colors, do you run beneficial bacteria? If so the bacteria always had a color. Green is bad because it consumes the oxygen in the water.

People that like to run sterile should not run MC imho. Synthetic nutrients and a sterilizer are going to run much differently than MC. Trying to mix both styles or expecting one to act like the other will cause issues. But just my 2 cents.

FB

 

[Mushinronsha]

In ebb and flow I thought all your nutrient solution gets exposed to light? I vote that it is s bacteria.

I run dirty water and it becomes impossible to monitor ppm of solution so I don’t. Current solution in my buckets is over 6.0 EC. Nutrients, salts and bacteria. Ppm most likely increases as the bacteria colony blooms and then you filter it out creating sludge.

We see “red tide” but not actually along the coasts when weather gets warm here. My guess would be that it is from the trace elements or kelp derivative that they add to the mix in MC. You say you e never seen any other colors, do you run beneficial bacteria? If so the bacteria always had a color. Green is bad because it consumes the oxygen in the water.

People that like to run sterile should not run MC imho. Synthetic nutrients and a sterilizer are going to run much differently than MC. Trying to mix both styles or expecting one to act like the other will cause issues. But just my 2 cents.

FB

Im not quite following what your saying... In my system no light hits the nutrient solution, other than regular maintenance work. I only run MC no other additives. So I basically run organic but flush everything and refill ever 7 days so nothing crazy starts growing I guess. But thats why I want to know what is causing it and if its normal. Are you saying that it is normal and everyone who runs it has the same issue?

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

I don’t know, sorry. Just trying to offer opinions. I have a red algae/ fungus this round, could be salts. Not sure what is causing it. Most systems are going to get some light exposure, if not then some heat source. Some combination of environmental conditions is somehow causing a growth around areas of my grow that appears red/purple.

I’m sure after the holiday weekend in the USA Greenleaf will come back on and hopefully offer an opinion. Maybe dome pictures of the sludge to help them get a better idea of color. Maybe that will narrow it for them.


I have been using it for many grows and this is my first time with it so it might be another item I’ve added. Or a naturally occurring fungi from the environment. I don’t think it’s a MC issue?

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[SmokexBreak]

So any of you guys us MC for DWC? I thought someone said they did.